Murphys Laws of Combat
by Tjin
Summary: What Happens when a bit of his Legendary luck rubs off on another Soldier? Xander Shepperd is about to find out. Because remember, Murphy doesn't choose sides.
1. 1 Friendly fire - isn't

Good Luck

"_What about Sheppard? He is colony born, his whole family was killed by Slavers, he knows how dangerous it is out there"_

Moving through the mid-evening light of Eden-Prime Lieutenant Timmothy Jenkins in his haste to prove himself and get promoted to the prestigious N7 missed the small stone in his way as he hurried forward, and true to form the young man's toe caught the upraised debris and sent him hurtling down the small path in a tumble as a hail of bullets ripped through the space he had been previously occupying.

His training was top notch though and the young man's movement to cover was something that would do any seasoned war veteran proud.

Huddling behind the boulder the Alliance Trooper reconsidered his chosen career

Shaking his head at the young man's luck Alexander 'Xander' Sheppard nodded to Kaidan Alenko and the seasoned duo charged the hovering scout drones as one, the Biotic energy basting one away outright as Sheppard's Rifle stitched the other across it's dome for a second before finding enough bite to breach the shell and commit horrific damage to the small machines inner workings.

Jogging to the third member of the team Sheppard smiled and offered the young man a hand up "You good?" he questioned and nodded at the young man's affirmative response but kindly ignored the kids comment on his needs concerning a change of pants, it was better than his first time being shot at.

Of course he had been four at the time, running away from pirates and slavers that had invaded his home, the small colony had been wiped out, the few survivors scattered to the galactic winds after the destruction of their homes.

Nodding at the two Sheppard, Alanko and Jenkins moved quickly up the hill, checking the downed bots for any information they could scavenge before moving on.

Ten minutes later the reinforced team was nearing the spaceport with Gunnery Chief Williams of the Two twelve and an older space dog they had saved due to their timely arrival by the name of Zamheer, the man had been retired for some time but was a Major in the Eden-Prime Militia, the surprising thing was the rather easy manner in which the older human kept up with them, never seeming to be out of breath and moving in anticipation of Sheppard's orders,

In all the Commander was damn glad to have saved the old coot from being Spiked by the blue eyed robotic Geth, and even more so when the geezer had but-stroked one of the husk like creatures that the Spikes were turning the humans into, knocking it away long enough for the commanders pistol to finish the job.

Kneeling down next to the fallen thing, the white haired and weather beaten man had snapped a small camera out and taken a couple of quick pictures as the twice dead forms crumbled away, he had explained to the team that eyewitness accounts were great and all, but nothing weathered the test of time like a good photo.

Moving up past the Archeological dig the team crested the hill and let out a sigh as they managed to get their first view of the spaceport, the sigh was choked off as they finally got a look at the towering behemoth that had been the landing craft for the attack, the ship towered imperiously over the landscape shrugging off the feeble attempts of the Eden-Prime militia as they fired scattered Anti-Aircraft rounds at it.

Glancing down at the spaceport Jenkins frowned for a second as he pulled out his Sniper Rifle and zoomed in on the loading area, "Commander, there are two Turians down there, Nihalus and ano- HOLY SHIT" the young man yelled in a panic as he twitched sending a round downrange.

Below them Nihalus and Sarin both reacted in a manner befitting two seasoned warriors, Nihalus spun towards the sound as the bullet struck high and to his left, he just barely managed to avoid receiving a fatal shot to the back of the head from his friend and fellow specter, for his part Sarin growled lowly before firing towards the rapidly moving Nihalus in an attempt to finish the job, his efforts were thwarted as a hail of rifle fire from the ridge sent the rogue Turian scrambling towards the loading rails cursing darkly at the further complications to the plan.

Rushing down the hill the squad made short work of the Husks that had shown up at the sound of gunfire before making their way towards the downed Specter who after glaring at them as he poured Medi-gel into the wound ordered them after Sarin, and the beacon, he made sure to use words like Authority, empowered and extreme prejudice before Sheppard Kaidan and Ashley ran after the rogue specter leaving Jenkins and Zamheer to watch over the injured Turian.

Rushing past the downed Specter the trio made short work of the Geth assembled against them before hijacking one of the freight trains and chasing after the mastermind of the attack.

The rest of the mission was a blur for the commander, of disarming nukes and fighting Geth to finally clearing the landing pad just as the massive ship left and finally having his mind shoved into a blender full of death and sadness, fear and Reapers…

Reapers, he had the oddest feeling that would be important later on, his last thought as he drifted off into a coma was that at least Ashley had gotten away.

Scene Break

"Captain Anderson, Nihalus a word if I may." Looking up from their conversation the two highest ranking men on the ship stole a glance at each other before following the Eden-Prime soldier over to one of the computer terminals as he brought up a series of pictures "I needed to get your perspective on this," he said pointing to several of the pictures of the once human 'Husks' "These are what the soldiers are calling Husks, the pylon spikes seem to hollow out the insides of a humanoid species and overlay a series of nano-wires throughout the nervous system, giving a central control system the ability to use them like puppets in combat or program in a set series of commands to be run, I won't know until we get one that is still… well alive if you will" Zamheer said seriously before moving on

"That being said however the 'Husks' don't fit the profile for the Geth," he explained before he was interrupted by the injured specter.

"How would we know, the Geth haven't been seen outside of the Persues Veil in three hundred years" Nihalus pointed out as the older man nodded.

"Yes but that doesn't mean we don't have any information on them, probes, scouts and scattered folklore has been collected by Alliance security for as long as we have known about them, we KNOW what they look like and nothing they have looks anything remotely like this, or like that dreadnought they showed up in for that matter." Zamheer said as he pointed out inconsistencies between the two. "It is kind of like seeing a bunch of Krogan ships with one BIG Asari cruiser in the middle of it, you can paint it the right colors but it just doesn't fit in"

"Could they have stolen the design? Perhaps modified it from one of their own?" Anderson asked curiously as he leaned in to view them as Zamheer shook his head

"Not likely, we would have seen advancements steps between the two, even as advanced as she is the Normandy has very distinct Turian lines with some Human elements thrown in, but you can still tell fundamentally where it came from, this would require a mind that is completely outside of the Geth to design and build, and for something like that to come out of nowhere, either it was already here and they found it by accident, or someone with a hell of a lot of resources can be for sneakier than I feel comfortable with."

"And how is it that you are aware of all of this? A Major from the Eden-Prime militia would not have access to all of this information" Nihalus asked curiously as he watched the man out of the corner of his eye carefully.

Smirking at that the major spun slightly in the chair to face the Turian "I never said I was JUST a Major in the militia, I also serve as Major for the S7 forward intelligence division,"

Glancing up at the Captain Nihalus took the mans shocked look as evidence towards the older humans claim "Never heard of them," he said as Anderson finally managed to do a mental reboot and respond

"They are a lot like the Specters, but not as outgoing, they prepare the way when Humans go to war and mine the approaches when others try themselves against us, hell if rumors are to be believed half the battles in the Contact wars were won because of them," Anderson said before shaking his head again and looking back at the Specter "During times of peace though they watch everyone, keeps tabs on everything and make sure that if war starts tomorrow humanity damn well knows what it is getting itself into"

Giving the captain a non-comfirmational nod the Major turned back to the screen "Eden-Prime was our forward access base, it stored the collected data we had gathered on the travers, the Geth, the Quarians and a hundred other species and organizations that exist in there.

"And you didn't see this coming?" Nihalus asked scathingly as the older man sat back in his chair.

"Exactly, usually when intelligence 'Drops the ball' so to speak they have no resources in the field, nothing endangered when it all goes pair shaped, protect the sources and work the big picture kind of shit," the Intelligence specialist explained before turning back to the image of the dreadnought "but this caught us with our pants down, I shudder to think what would have happened if they had been serious."

"Serious?" Nihalus said with a snort before looking back at the humans "Sarin shot me in the back, planted four thermonuclear devices in an inhabited city, piked up humans like some Vlad the impaler rip off and tried to make off with one off the greatest archeological finds in the past three hundred years, and you don't think that is serious?" he asked rhetorically as he stared at the youngest intergalactic species to date,

"not really, he sent in what amounts to a raiding party, did some damage and then ran away, why plant nukes when you have a DREADNAUGHT sitting on top of them, why shoot you when he could have easily just hit you and the team with one of the secondary guns once you started shooting, hell he could have just landed atop the beacon in the first place, snapped it up and been gone. No muss, no fuss." Zamheer explained before leaning back "there are just so many unanswered questions, why did Sarin go rogue, what ship was that, who controlled it, how did they get the Geth to work with them and why did they want the Prothean Device,"

"You don't think Sarin is in control of that ship?" Anderson asked as Zamheer shook his head.

"No, his Psych profile clearly indicates that he has no moral impulse to avoid collateral damage, the nuke just reinforces that. If he was in control of the ship he would have opened up with the main guns and wiped everything out from the very start, either he is working FOR somebody or WITH somebody, and both are troublesome to consider."

Nihalus nodded at that to confirm that it was the most likely scenario of choice for the Rogue Specter. "If he is working for someone than it is someone that can offer more than the Council and Specters, and if he is working with somebody it is someone with a hell of a lot of resources and the ability to sway a Specter from his sworn duty," the Tuarian said thoughtfully "Alright than, this is all going into my report and I will definitely have something to say to the council when we get it, already a detention order is out for Sarin under my authority, this matter will be dealt with"

Scene Break

Gestalt 1, System presence 1101011010110 – Registry adaption – Colony Eden-Prime, We have consensus.

Gestalt 1, System presence –Eden Prime – unit presence to observe and report on splinter faction, - Registry adaption – Servant of the old Machine/Children of Nazara/Heretic, we have consensus.

Gestalt System presence –Eden Prime – unit presence to observe and report on –Heretic- units, Heretic units attacks Biological settlement –Eden Prime- employing zero tolerance runtimes and psychological warfare 'Dragons Teeth' systems acquired from Old Machine –Nazara- Human unit Sheppard/Commanders interference resulted in Heretic retreat from locale, Human response likely to be violent against all Geth units, 99.576% probability of attempted Platform termination for unit Gestalt 1 in area –Eden Prime-, we have consensus, Unit Gestalt 1 removing platform from –Eden Prime- local.

Communication with unit Sheppard/Commander for plateform assistance against Heretics, no consensus reached.

Scene Break

Xander groaned slightly as the lashing images decided to settle into a semi-coherent state and only cause him pain via the overhead lights that burned their way past his retina and scoured his mind in pain. "Four hundred years of hospitals and they still put the worst light right over your bed," he complained as he sat up and blinked at his surroundings, he had not had the privilege of entertaining the good doctor aboard the Normandy with his usual collection of injuries both life threatening and mundane but he had seen it during his initial tour of the ship.

"And how are you feeling" Doctor Chakwas asked pleasantly before waiting patiently for the soldier before her to stop glaring and respond.

Finally grunting at the matronly doctor Sheppard held his head gently "Blended" he muttered before forcing himself to swing his legs off the side of the bed and waited for the universe to catch up with his spin.

After a moment the Soldier took notice of the concerned look on one Ashley Williams face as she stared at him from across the medical bed. "How long was I out?" he grunted and winched at the time lost in his nightmare world,

"Well fortunately for you there seems to be no long term damage from your adventure," Chakwas said as she ran her medical omni-tool over the commander once more, "health and vitals are all stable and with the exception of some odd brainwave readings while you were out you seem to be fit as a fiddle, more so than our Tuarian friend at least." the Doctor said with some disgruntled thoughts at the Specter that had refused her services due to some odd specter traditions dating back thousands of years.

If you asked her it was only slightly less absurd than bleeding the sick with leeches and using coconut water in lue of plasma.

As the Captain and the current source of her ire walked in Chakwas saw the two men's jaws set tight and quickly removed herself and Ashley from the med-bay, if there was one thing she had learned over her years of serving the armed forces, it was that sometimes there were conversations even she didn't need to be a part of.

Scene Break

(A/N) Sorry if it jumps around a bit, I tried to make it clear, Xander's presence in the Mass Effect Verse will be explained, but don't look for others from the series, I do not want the Buffy Verse characters over riding the Mass Effect verse Characters.

How you can look at Sovereign and even consider it to be Geth is beyond me, it is like looking at a Toyota and confusing it with a Ferrari,

Finally, I am considering adding in some of the other team members from the other games, Legion, Jack, Vega, Etc. do you think I should, or should I keep it Vanilla outside of the already added members?


	2. 2 Recoilless rifles - aren't

Sitting in front of the computer terminal, Zamheer Al-Russan typed in the needed commands and waited as the secure communication connection warbled to life. In a few moments time the data burst had downloaded all relevant information and transferred itself to his Omni-tool before deleting all history of its existence.

Glancing down at the device, the S7 operative warily scrolled down the list of names: Kimberly Brooks-KIA, Steven Barr-KIA, Keith David-KIA, Seth Green-KIA, Jennifer Hale-KIA, Lance Henriksen-MIA, Ali Hillis-KIA, Brandon Keener-KIA, Mark Meer-KIA, Marina Sirtis-KIA, Ash Sroka-KIA, Raphael Sbarge-MIA, Fred Tatasciore-KIA, Leigh-Allyn Baker-KIA, April Banigan-KIA, Wendy Braun-KIA, S. Scott Bullock-KIA, Andy Chanley-MIA, Cam Clarke-KIA, Townsend Coleman-KIA, Tim Conlon-KIA, Marianne Copithorne-KIA, Belinda Cornish-KIA, Josh Dean-KIA, Grey DeLisle-KIA, Charles Dennis-MIA,

And on and on and on, the names rolled passed, all highlighted in red or black save for one Zamheer Al-Russan-Active. Leaning back in his chair, the Major let a curse slip out. Over the last several months, the S7 had been under siege and they had never even known about it until the ones responsible had thrown in on a decapitating strike on the unit's main base.

At the moment, he was the sole surviving senior operative alive. Some peons on the lowest level had been overlooked, but in all this was a clean strike.

Rubbing his chin, Zamheer leaned into the terminal command pad and started entering codes. Someone had gone to considerable effort to keep something secret, something that S7 was unaware of.

He may be the last living S7 operative alive, but he would be damned if he was the last S7 operative period.

Scene Break

Timothy Jenkins sat in the lower cargo area and held his armor as the screen replayed. The helmet cam had caught the entire thing on video and he still could not believe it. Rubbing his hand alongside the deep channel the Geth weapon had dug through his armor, the young lieutenant took a shuddering breath before replaying the scene again.

A rock, a stinking rock had saved his life. He had been shot at before during his six years of service, but never so close. Rubbing his finger along the furrow in the armor the young soldier felt the small gap of air where the bullet had burrowed through before skipping off. Another fraction of an inch and the deadly round would have bounced into his armor and done horrible things to his squishy parts.

Scene Break

"So whats the plan?" Xander asked as he looked between Anderson and Nihlus.

The two shared a look before the Specter leaned forward, "We go back to the Citadel. I sponser you into the Specters, the Council will vote on it," Nihlus explained before shrugging. "But honestly that is just a formality, they appointed me to see if you're worthy and on my say so you are a specter," the Turian said before catching Xander's eye. "And I say you are a Specter, with all the rights and responsibilities that come with that position."

Swallowing at the thought of what he was about to do, Xander nodded before Nihlus leaned back a bit.

"After that I will form up a strike force and go after Saren," Nihlus explained before waving his hand to cut off Xander's request "And you are not coming with me."

At Xander and Anderson's outraged responses Nihlus shrugged once more, "You are a Specter now, your job is the protection of Citadel space," the older Specter explained before pushing on. "Saren is dangerous, but the real threat are the Geth. That warship of Saren's and whatever endgame he is looking for, your job is to find out what that is and crush it."

Finally nodding, Xander let out a disgusted sigh. "Fine, but if you need help-."

"I know who to call, a Specter stands against all threats, but we do not stand alone" Nihlus said before standing to leave. "I will forward some names of support personnel that you might find of value. If you want to take on the best, you need to work with the best."

Nodding as the Turian left, Xander turned back to Captain Anderson, "And what about Udina?" Xander asked of the rather surly diplomat.

Scene Break

Stepping into the crew area, Xander sighed as the men and women of the crew quickly moved out of his way. Rolling into his bunk, Xander let his head drop back and stare into the last momento of his life in Sunnydale. The one thing that kept him from believing the whole thing was a fever dream from Eeso exposure during the Skyllian Blitz.

The faded picture of Buffy, Willow, Dawn and himself as they laughed in the Summers' living room.

He could still remember that night, the world had been saved, the demon flavor of the week slayed early and the gang had settled in to watch Evil Dead and Army of Darkness, it had been a fun night filled with laughter and Joyce had snapped the photo sometime during the evening.

In all it was everything he missed about his old life.

Hitting the privacy filter on the bunk, Alexander Harris/Sheppard waited for the opaque screen to drop down before allowing himself time to cry.

Scene Break

Standing in front of the Turian Ambassador Sparatus , Xander sighed as they went over the events once more.

"And you're sure it was Saren," Sparatus asked for what felt like the thousandth time before leaning back in his chair at Nihlus' once more confirmation. Lacing his fingers together in thought, the Turian representative to the Council let out a sigh. "This changes things. Everything Saren has done for the last decade is now suspect," the politician said before slamming fist onto his desk.

"Damn it all, this is the last thing we can afford." The councilor said with venom before looking at those assembled before him, "The Human is now a Specter, with the Salarian and Turian vote it isn't even an issue. I expect him to understand what that means."

"As for Saren, I want a full recount of everything that piece of Bliznack has done in our name. Every specter he sponsored will be reviewed, every mission recounted and every single credit he spent audited." The enraged Turian yelled before slapping the desk again. "I WANT HIS HEAD, DAMN IT," the politician yelled before taking a deep breath and staring at Nihlus and Xander. "That is not a euphemism; I want that Py'jac spawn's skull sitting in the Council hall, him and whoever and/or whatever he is working with."

Standing from behind his desk, the Councilor left with a brief word about Shepherd meeting the Council to be sworn in before disappearing from the room.

Blinking in shock at the politician's outburst, Xander turned to Nihlus for an explanation as the older specter shrugged. "Sparatus sponsored Saren's promotion to the Specters. They fought together, bled together. For Saren to betray that, there is no greater insult among our kind."

Nodding in understanding,Xander left the room. Nihlus, Anderson and Zamheer followed to witness the swearing in of the first human Specter.

Scene Break

Gestalt 1, System presence 11010110101111 – Registry adaption – Asteroid Athena, We have consensus.

Gestalt 1, System presence 11010110101111 – Registry adaption – Asteroid Athena, We have consensus. – Gestalt 1 system interface records evidence of Human unit Sheppard/Commanders promotion to Specter, Human unit Sheppard/Commanders new Registry entry – Specter Sheppard/Commander.

We have consensus.

Communication with unit Specter Sheppard/Commander for platform assistance against Heretics, Consensus Reached.

Communicating.

Scene Break

Sitting in his new cabin, Xander went over the files Nihlus had sent him. Shoving the majority of them away, they were all capable men and women, but they were also all career military, with no flexibility in them at all.

One thing he had learned in his long life… lives… had been the need for people that thought outside the box.

Reaching for the terminal setup, Xander began digging through the C-Sec files for just the right flavor of crazy to help him in his mission.

Scene Break

(A/N) Thank you Duchess for being my Beta,

It has been hard for me to write recently, work and real life and stuff...

Bah, here is Chapter 2, i hope you all enjoy.


End file.
